Any Primary School Teachers?

[greengreen]

Hi... I'm considering a career change in my mid/late thirties to Primary teaching. I have a BA so can do a 1yr Dip Ed and be work ready!

I have two boys, 1 and 3 years old, and eventually when they are at school, would be happy to work full time, and part time for now.

Is there anyone out there who is working full or part time teaching with a young family?

And if you'd like to tell me a bit about what you like and don't like about Primary teaching, I'd love to hear that too.

It seems like the perfect job as a parent—to have holidays together... my current position has a busy time which will always clash with the Christmas/summer period which will be a disaster when my boys get to school age.

Thanks!:)

[jalibali]

Hello! Yes I am a primary school teacher and I love my job, I wouldn't give it up for the world!

I have one DD who is 11months. I currently work 2 days a week. I love it because I go to work, spend my day with delightful Year 3 and 4's. I also love the women I work with, most are young mums and just love the social side of it too!! Then at 3 I run out the door - literally I am usually busting to pick up DD. I pick her up at 3.15 from my Dad. Then I have about 5 hours straight with her, we usually go for a walk, have afternoon tea, have a play and anything else. I love this quality time I have with her, when I am at home all day I tend to take it for granted and not really spend much real time with her.

Then at 8.30 once she is alseep I do school work, I usually do at least an hour, usually 2-3hours. There is a lot of programming, organising and marking, but this is all manageable around naps and baby sleep time.

My DH was a chef and has recnetly retrained as a teacher, so we get all that family time every afternoon and during school holidays. I do do work in the holidays but only when DD is sleeping.

I would highlt recommend teaching. Great job and great hours!

[little bean]

I'm a teacher and I'd recommend it too - as long as you're a patient person. There are some very challenging classes out there!

My DD is 11 months old and, for the moment, I'm doing casual teaching on my husband's days off. That is working well for us as I am able to stay home if I need to. The pay is higher per day but you miss out on other benefits - sick pay, maternity leave, holiday pay etc.

Teaching is a great job and quite flexible too - full time, part time, contracts or casual work. There are also many different areas you could get into (learning difficulties, special ed, PE, music) depending on your interests.

[bubbleyblossom]

Reading the positive experiences of teaching it makes me really want to get into it next year :D
Ive almost completedmy diploma of children services but I dont think I will be able to work in a centre setting due to an arm injury

[Frazzled]

I'm going to go against the grain here. I am a high school teacher and my sister is a primary teacher, my husband is also a high school teacher.

Teaching is hard, hard work. Yes - I love it and would not change my job - but it is not easy by any stretch of the imagination.

There are very very few teachers at my school who get there on the bell and leave with it, and those who do - aren't in it for the right reasons (at my school anyway). I have meetings after school three afternoons a week until 5pm. Most of the time my husband and I can work it that one of us can pick DS up by 4.30pm and I drop him off at 8 in the morning.

I have returned to full-time work this year for 6 months and have hated it. I will never work full-time again until all my children are at school. My DH and I are both up until at least 11pm most nights doing 'school work' which we start pretty much straight after bub is in bed and the kitchen is cleaned, at about 8pm. We would do at least 4 hours work each weekend and holidays are not just holidays. Take these holidays for example, we both have done about 1-2 hours work each night except last night and have been into school for one full day each and we will both go in at least once next week.

My sister is always busy with her own teaching commitments, apart from marking and all the other everyday stuff - her school is quite small so she has a lot of other responsibilities like looking after music groups, dance troupes, public speaking, choir etc etc etc.

You also have to take into consideration Parent Teacher Nights (we have 4 per year), expectations to go away on camps and retreats, information evenings, extra-curricular activities like school musicals etc, staff and faculty meetings, professional development which eats into your own time, and any reporting season is very stressful. If you need to take a day off, you need to leave things prepared as though you would be there, which is rather difficult if you have a very sick child at home for eg. So on and so forth.

I don't want to turn you off, and I do really love my job - it is mostly quite satisfying - but a lot of teaching is rather selfless as well. My sister is actually taking next year off because she is feeling so guilty that she is neglecting her children. Something has to give, you can't be a supermum, superwife and a superteacher all at the same time. And teaching is getting harder and harder with more and more responsibilities and obligations, so it is very hard to be a 'good' teacher, while you are trying to be good at all the other things.

I think casual teaching is fantastic, it pays great (up to $300 a day in NSW) and you really can walk in and out and take nothing home with you. Part-time is good, but I job-shared for 2 years and have never worked so hard - as I was carrying my partner who was a 'walk in and out' teacher.

I could go on and on and on, but wont. I think teaching is a great profession and we definitely need more fantastic teachers out there. Yes, hours can be good and holidays are great - but with that comes lots of other things - lots of at home work. Maybe I work at a particularly demanding school, I don't know - but that's what I am going to leave you with.

Happy to answer any extra questions for you.

Oh, are you sure a DipEd is all you need? I have a BA/BTeaching and when I enquired into changing to primary I would have to do another nearly 2 years at uni???

Good luck with your decision x

[meggs]

Hi there,
Im a Primary Teacher too but currently not working as I have a 13 week old..I have worked both full time and casual in NSW and in Qld...teaching is a great career when you have a family i believe, however it is alot of work!!!!!
Especially when you are starting out there is so much to learn and in my opinion the best teachers are the ones that are well prepared which definately takes time!

I am really missing it though and hope to go back part time I cant imagine doing full time while having a family it is too much work for me I like to be organised and well prepared but it really depends on what kind of teacher you are in terms of planning and prep...holidays too require work and programming...

Im not sure where you are but the pay is much better in NSW Im not enjoying it here in QLd...good luck with it...

[melbryan]

I did a dip ed and I am a High school teacher.

I had an engineering design degree and did the 1 yr course and now I am at a very good school and love teaching.

I teach public I do believe when I graduated it was hard work very long hours and it was this time I learnt to teach. NOw I have nearly 4 small children I work part time ( 3 days) I couldn't function full time with all the night wakings, sick kids etc. It works for our family, hours in a day, holidays. I do parent teacher nights, I always leave by the bell each day. I know others stay. At this stage in my life my children are my priority and I know when they are at school I will have more time to put into a full time career. Yes I feel sorry that others stay there after I am gone and get to school early.
I do all I can for my students and feel I am a good teacher just because I don't stay past the bell. If I have reports to do or tests to mark I do it through my lunch and recess I work damn hard when I am there but when I leave my real job begins.

I have been teaching for 10 yrs I believe there are different expectations of public and private and you definitely don't do it for the money.

At this point in our lives we have made the best decsions for our family. I don't regret anything. I know there will come a time when I will be older and there will be a teacher sitting next to me wondering how she will juggle work and children. You get through it's only for a short time and I don't regret a minute of it.

The me time is important we have a carer come to the house and I go and do what I am good at. I am not a year adviser I don't run committees I think that will come in time. I do what I can do and I am happy with that and run a house with 6 people so I think that's a feat in itself.

[cja]

I am a primary school teacher and I really love it.

It is certainly a full on job while you are in the classroom with the kids. I found the first couple of years I spent many, many extra hours at school. Nearly ten years later I still find that I need to arrive at school an hour before the school day begins and bring some work home each night.I walk out the minute the bell rings in the afternoon and I feel guilty about this on some days, but as others have said before at this time in my life my family comes first. Once my kids are older I will go back to how I was before at school, taking on extra responsibilities co-ordinating things etc..

My kids are 19mths and 5mths and at the moment I am working part time

Teaching is the best job with great holidays, but it is certainly hard work in the classroom and there are many hours you need to put in after face to face teaching finishes.

[mummy1day]

I am also a primary school teacher, I am not a parent yet so can not comment on that side of things. I am a first year teacher this year as I worked in another industry full time whilst studying a post grad B Education, it was hard work. I love my job, I am excited about going back to work after the holidays and really missed my grade over the past two weeks. I have to back what others have said, I am at school at the latest at 7:45 and usually leave at around 6 often later, my first term was the hardest and things are getting easier and I expect that in a year or two (assuming my school keeps in the same year level) my work will reduce as I will have more resources made and planning will (is) becoming less time consuming. In my area there is an abundance of relief work, and as mentioned above it is well paid and although it presents it's challenges it does not require the out of hours work of full time teaching. That being said many people I work with have young children, its hard but they do it and do their jobs well, they have the support of our principal and their team. Good Luck it's a wonderful job and the holidays are nice :)

[jalibali]

I also forgot to add I think it depends where you teach and the mentality they have towards working parents. Luckily for me I have found a wonderful school who is very understanding.

I am a specialist teacher at the moment so I don't have the responsibilites of a class which also makes it easier. Don't get me wrong though I get to work at 7.15am and I work my butt off till 3pm when I walk out to pick up DD.

I also have an extremely supportive husband, who makes me brekkie, packs my lunch and cooks dinner every night. This takes a lot of pressure off me. He also cooks and freezes meals so if one of us has to be at work we just stick sommething in the microwave. I also have to be highly organised to make it work, I have a big colour coded white board in my kitchen which shows what we have on, what we are eating and who is looking after the baby. We have also just bought a house within walking distance of DH's work and a 5min drive for me, which will give us more time for family stuff.

If you have the right attitude it is definitely something you can make work.

All the best

[emmwill]

Hi
I am also a primary teacher. I teach in NSW. I have just gone on maternity leave to have our 3rd child. I will hopefully have 2 years off maybe doing a little casual work in the second year. It has been easier the last year or two as the kids have been a little older but I have found it quite hard when they are little. There is a lot of extra work especially when you first start out. I am glad I didn't have kids when I first started as that would have been very hard with the time you need to put in.

I am lucky to have a very helpful husband who has always understood that if I am working fulltime I cannot also be responsible for all of the housework and cooking.

In saying all that it was the only thing I ever wanted to do and I have never regretted being a teacher but I am ready to take a backward step after this bubs and not go back fulltime until they are at least at school. I think my kids deserve that.

[greengreen]

Thanks to everyone who replied to my thread last year, I appreciated your thoughts.

I'm starting my Grad Dip in November, and have been doing some voluntary work experience at a local school and loved it.

I'm even about to get my books early to get a head start on the reading! (Worried about getting behind with family commitments once it all starts!)

I'll be looking for part time and emergency teaching work once I'm qualified until my youngest is in school, which will be three more years away.

Yeeha!:D